The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
A typical hybrid powertrain includes an internal combustion engine, an electric machine or motor and a transmission. The transmission uses a combination of a plurality of torque transmitting mechanisms, planetary gear arrangements and fixed interconnections to achieve a plurality of gear ratios. The number and physical arrangement of the planetary gear sets, generally, are dictated by packaging, cost and desired speed ratios. The torque generated by either the internal combustion engine or the electric motor must be separately transmitted to the transmission. Moreover, when either the internal combustion engine or the electric machine is transmitting torque to the transmission a hydraulic pump is activated to generate oil pressure to control the torque transmitting mechanisms and other hydraulically operated devices of the transmission.
While current transmissions achieve their intended purpose, the need for new and improved transmission configurations which exhibit improved performance, especially from the standpoints of efficiency, responsiveness and smoothness and improved packaging, primarily reduced size and weight, is essentially constant. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved, cost-effective, compact hybrid powertrain.